Tuesday, January 5, 2016

'The Royals' Renewed For Third Season By E!

Less than two weeks before its second season finale, The Royals has been renewed for a third season.

The Royals will be back for a third season. E! Entertainment today announced the season three pick-up of its first original scripted drama series, co-produced by Lionsgate and Universal Cable Productions. Created by Mark Schwahn, the hour-long drama centers around a fictional modern day royal family. The Royals' third season will again be 10 one-hour episodes.

Currently, all-new episodes of season two air every Sunday at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The stellar cast is led by Elizabeth Hurley as the calculating Queen Helena, and she is joined by William Moseley as the vengeful Prince Liam, Alexandra Park as an uncontrollable Princess Eleanor, Tom Austen as the Prince's devious bodyguard Jasper Frost, Oliver Milburn as the troubled head of the Royal security, and Jake Maskall as the newly-crowned and universally despised King Cyrus. Lydia Rose Bewley, Andrew Bicknell, Victoria Ekanoye, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Simon Thomas, and Scott Maslen co-star along with Joan Collins as the Grand Duchess of Oxford. The series, which ranks as one of 2015's top new scripted cable series, is executive produced, written and directed by Mark Schwahn, and executive produced by Brian Robbins, Joe Davola and Shauna Phelan.

"We are incredibly proud of the success of The Royals," said Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President, Original Programming & Development, E! "The series has captured fans and brought them into a regal world of sexy, fun drama. We can't wait to see what season three will bring and what surprises are still in store as we enter the second half of season two."

"We are delighted by today's pick-up announcement for season three of The Royals," said Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate Television Group Chairman. "The Royals reflects the kind of original, noisy and provocative series that is a Lionsgate signature. We look forward to an all-new season of palace intrigue and badly behaved royals with our partners at E! and Universal Cable Productions."

In its second season, The Royals is averaging an impressive 1.3M Total Viewers and 754K A18-49. The Royals is one of the top 3 new original scripted series of 2015 among P18-49 across ad-supported cable, excluding spinoffs. The series ranks as the #2 new original scripted series of 2015 among P/W 18-34 and W18-49 across ad-supported cable, excluding spinoffs. The Royals contributed to E!'s ongoing success as the fastest growing top 30 entertainment network in primetime with P18-49 in 4Q 2015. E! was the only network to see double digit growth, building 12% over 4Q 2014.

The second season picked up eight weeks after the tragic murder of King Simon (Vincent Regan) by an unknown assailant. Cyrus, Simon's arrogant brother, has taken the throne after deeming the Prince and Princess illegitimate, with the help of the Queen to fabricate the paternity results. While Cyrus, who is also secretly battling cancer, is convinced the Queen is on his side, her majesty has her own agenda in mind: change the succession of the Royal Family and make the power shift to the Queen if anything should happen to yet another King. Meanwhile, Liam vows to bring his father's murderer to justice and teams up with an unlikely ally to do so, the duplicitous bodyguard Jasper who had been relieved from his duties after sleeping with both the Princess and the Queen, and had once been considered a prime suspect in the King's attack that led to his death. However, the two young men, who are both working to mend their respective broken hearts, have bonded over their mutual concern for the Princess' wellbeing as she falls further down the rabbit hole.

The Royals is co-produced by Lionsgate and Universal Cable Productions. The series is executive produced, written and directed by Mark Schwahn ("One Tree Hill"), and executive produced by Brian Robbins, Joe Davola ("One Tree Hill," "Smallville"), and Shauna Phelan.

The Royals season two finale airs Sunday, January 17 at 10pm ET/PT on E!